06/10/2008

Life In Jail For Modern 'Ripper'

A man, who stalked the streets made famous by Jack the Ripper, has been passed down a life sentence at the Old Bailey, after being found guilty of murdering two young mothers.

Forty-seven year old serial sex attacker Derek Brown denied murdering Xiao Mei Guo, 29, and Bonnie Barrett, 24, whose bodies have never been found.

On Friday the court ruled Mr Brown had picked up his victims in the Whitechapel area, famously prowled by Jack the Ripper in the 1880s.

He then took them back to his flat in Rotherhithe, east London.

Police believe the man may have tried to emulate Jack the Ripper.

The judge ordered Mr Brown to serve a minimum term of 30 years.

According to friends the convicted rapist had expressed a desire to be "famous", leading police to believe he may have been on the verge on committing a killing spree, before he was arrested.

A nationwide investigation has now been launched into unsolved cases to assess whether there could be any links to Mr Brown.

During the trial the court heard Mr Brown was a convicted rapist and a serial sex attacker who was a suspect in another murder case outside London.

Over the past two decades he was identified by victims in five other rape cases.

(PR/JM)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

03 October 2014
Man Charged With Murdering Parents
A 46-year-old man has been charged with murdering his parents. The bodies of Paul and Dorothy Brown were discovered inside their house on Huskisson Street, Liverpool, on Friday 19th September. Post-mortems revealed that they both died as a result of multiple stab wounds.
11 August 2015
Appeal Issued For Missing 86-Year-Old Woman
Police in Lambeth have appealed for help in tracing 86-year-old Shelagh McMaster. Ms McMaster was last seen in Prioress Road, West Norwood, at about 13:00 on Monday, 10 August. When she was last seen she was wearing dark trousers, possibly wearing open toe sandals or laced brown shoes.
08 July 2015
Appeal Issued For Missing 13-Year-Old In Bradford
Police in Bradford have appeal for information on the whereabouts of 13-year-old Jamilah Patel. Bradford District CID are searching for the teenager who was reported missing from her home on Wheatlands Avenue at about 23:40 on Tuesday night.
09 February 2015
Pensioner Killed In Road Collision Robbed
Police have launched an investigation following the theft of a pensioners purse who was killed in a road collision in Manchester on Wednesday. Ethel Irene Ditcher, known as Irene, 82, died when she was hit by a lorry on Leigh Road.
28 November 2014
Police Search For Naked Driver
Police in south-west London have appealed for information regarding a man, reportedly said to be naked from the waist down, who is driving a vehicle in the Hampton area. It is understood that a man was reported to police for acting suspiciously in a car in Hampton on 04 November. Reports said that he was naked below the waist.